ARTICLES ABOUT POWER OUTAGES BY DATE - PAGE 5

Many people today find themselves depending on portable generators to provide power for a variety of uses. AT HOME -- Power outages are more than an inconvenience. They can result in financial loss due to spoiled food, frozen and broken pipes, and water damage to buildings and furniture. A portable power generator can avoid such losses and keep the family comfortable, safe and secure by powering refrigerator/freezers, sump pumps, heaters, microwave ovens, lights and small appliances.

SHARPSBURG -- More than 900 homes in southern Washington County were without power for almost 12 hours on Saturday after a car hit a utility pole on Porterstown Road, according to police and an Allegheny Energy spokesman. The car hit a pole near Geeting Road northeast of Sharpsburg around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. The pole had a heavy regulator attached to it, causing the pole to come down "like a missile," yanking three other utility poles down with it, Allegheny Energy spokesman Doug Colafella said.

FREDERICK, Md. -- Frederick High School closed at about 10:30 a.m. Friday due to a power outage, according to a news release from Frederick County Public Schools. All after-school events were canceled, except for the home football game against South Carroll at 7 p.m. and the feeder pep rally, school officials said.

Clear Spring Middle School and Clear Spring High School were closed Tuesday because of a power outage, Washington County Public Schools announced. Clear Spring Elementary remained open. Staff at Clear Spring Middle and Clear Spring High were to report on regular schedules, the WCPS announcement said. Barbara Ingram School for the Arts students from Clear Spring had bus service and were expected to attend school, the announcement said. Washington County Technical High students from Clear Spring were excused from school.

HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. -- About 600 Hedgesville Elementary School students got the day off from classes Friday after a minivan crashed into a utility pole, knocking out power to about 75 percent of the building, school and emergency officials said. The accident at W.Va. 9 and School House Drive was reported at about 6 a.m., according to a Berkeley County emergency dispatch official. School House Drive was reopened Friday afternoon after power was restored, officials said. Power had to be completely turned off at the school to make the repairs, according to Berkeley County Schools Superintendent Manny P. Arvon II.

Woman sent to hospital after vehicle accident FANNETTSBURG, Pa. -- A two-vehicle crash Friday on Pa. 75 sent a Chambersburg, Pa., woman to the hospital, according to a Pennsylvania State Police press release. A helicopter flew Nicole Strader, 20, to Altoona (Pa.) Hospital for treatment of moderate injuries after the crash, troopers said. Strader was not listed as a patient there Saturday night. Strader went through a stop sign at the intersection of Pa. 75 and Pa. 641 about 12:20 p.m., troopers said.

HAGERSTOWN -- A storm that produced rain and hail left about 2,200 electric customers without power until late Friday after it passed through Washington County earlier in the afternoon. Traffic lights in several areas across Hagerstown were put out of commission and heavy winds toppled trees that landed, in some cases, on homes or parked vehicles. Funkstown was hit the hardest, with about 1,100 power outages, said David Neurohr, an Allegheny Power spokesman. In the City of Hagerstown, about 1,000 customers in the north and west ends of town lost their power, City Community Affairs Director Karen Giffin said.

QUINCY, Pa. -- More than 750 Allegheny Power customers, mostly in Quincy Township, lost power Wednesday evening after a vehicle struck a utility pole on Pa. 316 around 6:30 p.m. Many had power restored by 9:30 p.m., according to an Allegheny Power spokeswoman. The driver was injured and taken to Washington County Hospital, according to Pennsylvania State Police. No other information was available late Wednesday.

A power outage caused by blasting at a construction site west of Hagerstown left more than 1,100 Allegheny Power customers without electricity for about an hour Wednesday afternoon, company spokesman Todd Meyers said. About 1,150 customers initially lost power, but it was restored to more than 900 customers by 1:15 p.m., Meyers said. Service was restored to the remaining customers by 2:45 p.m., the power company reported on its Web site. The power failure was first reported at 12:09 p.m., according to dispatchers at the Washington County 911 Center.

WOODSBORO, Md. -- A Saltsburg, Pa., tractor-trailer driver was killed in a crash just before midnight in which a home was damaged and nearby residents left without electric power, Maryland State Police said. At 23:44 p.m. Wednesday, Raymond Joseph Doland, 60, was driving a tractor-trailer loaded with powder cement southbound on Md. 75 when the truck went off the roadway on a curve, police said. The vehicle overturned and struck a utility pole, a home at 10968 Green Valley Road and a parked Jeep Grand Cherokee.